Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Bible Believers' Newsletter 964

It is a great privilege to fellowship around God's unchanging Word with God-blessed saints like you.

Our main article is drawn from Alexander MacLaren's exposition on Joshua chapter 5. Brother MacLaren (1826 – 1910) was a Baptist preacher and expositor of Scottish origin. He lived more than almost any of the great preachers of his time between his study, his pulpit and his pen. He subdued action to thought, thought to utterance and utterance to the Gospel. His life was his ministry; his ministry was his life. He loved Jesus Christ with a reverent, holy love and lived to make Him known. In his farewell sermon at Union Chapel, Fallowfield, Manchester he said: "To efface oneself is one of a preacher's first duties."

Brother MacLaren's article closes our series demonstrating that our authority in God's unfailing Word is dependent upon our separation from the world to the Word by manifested faith in the living Word of the hour. It demonstrates that God is One Person unfolding Himself or changing His form from the eternal Spirit alone with His thoughts through individual faith to their manifestation in the flesh of His glorified family. The first-born of this NEW CREATION of God-man is the supreme deity, our Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:8; 3:14; 15:3). "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has passed away [or changed]; behold, the new has come. And all things come from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation . . . For our sake He made Him who knew no sin to be made sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (II Corinthians 5:17-18, 21).

This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.

February 19, 2017 — The 'West' and its allies are not leading a 'counter-terrorism' campaign in Syria. Publicly–disclosed, previously-planned Government-change war against non-belligerent, democratic, pluralist, secular Syria, is a terrorist campaign. Known, documented, and amply proven, the West is using organizations, including ISIS and al Qaeda, in its attempts to destroy Syria . . . the West used—and likely continues to use—depleted uranium ordnances throughout its illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. DU ordnances are WMD that continue to kill innocent Iraqis, and will do so for many years to come. But the recently-disclosed story about the US using DU ordnances in Syria is suspect . . . because the story is being conflated in Western media with the notion that the weapons were used against ISIS.

While the West sometimes attacks 'both sides' to prolong the destruction and warfare, and/or to create intra-Syrian conflict, the notion that the weapons were used against ISIS infrastructure is (intentionally) misleading in the sense that it creates the false perception that the West is trying to destroy ISIS (despite on-the ground evidence to the contrary). Prior to Russia's legal intervention in Syria, ISIS territory expanded beneath the illegal western bombardments.

The news story also ties in with the resignation of General Flynn, which appears to be the result of deep/dark state interventions that aim to upend President Trump and advance the causes of global war and poverty. Consider, for example, that it was General Flynn who publicly confirmed that the West's support for ISIS and other terrorist groups was a 'willful decision.' Consider also Robert Perry's assessment at Consortium News:

Flynn's real 'offense' appears to be that he favors détente with Russia rather than escalation of a new and dangerous Cold War. Trump's idea of a rapprochement with Moscow—and a search for areas of cooperation and compromise—has been driving Official Washington's foreign policy establishment crazy for months and the neocons, in particular, have been determined to block it . . . Full story: globalresearch.ca

Nato suspends its Operations in Syria

February 16, 2017 — On 15 February, the Alliance's Ministers of Defense assembled at the Nato headquarters in Brussels, in the presence of General James Mattis, Secretary of Defence in the Trump administration. At this meeting the ministers decided to establish a South Hub and gave it the mandate of controlling Africa and the Middle East. It was also resolved to suspend spying flights in Syria.

Right from the start of the war launched by Washington, London and Paris against Syria, Nato has been responsible for the surveillance of the battlefield through its AWACS and its members' satellites. The intelligence gathered was immediately filtered and some was transmitted to jihadist groups, thus allowing them escape the Syrian Arab Army. On withdrawing its AWACS, the Organization made it clear that it is not taking a position in the conflict, which currently pits against one and other the Kurds, among others. Full story: voltairenet.org

Trump – Business against War

February 14, 2017 — Thierry Meyssan invites us to observe Donald Trump without judging him by the same criteria as his predecessors, but by trying to understand his own logic. He notes that the President of the United States is trying to restore peace and relaunch world commerce, but on new foundations, completely different from the current system of globalisation. Seeking to overthrow the [war] Power that preceded him, which is still trying hang on despite him, President Trump cannot compose his administration by relying on the political class or on senior civil servants. He has therefore solicited new collaborators, entrepreneurs like himself, despite the risk that this confusion of rôle categories may entail.

According to the Puritan ideology, which has been in fashion since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, mixing state policy with one's own private affairs is a crime—one of the reasons for which a strict separation has been installed between these two worlds. On the contrary, though, during the last few centuries, politics was not regarded from a moral standpoint, but from that of efficiency. It was therefore considered normal to associate entrepreneurs with politics. Their own personal enrichment was not considered 'corruption' unless they grew fat on the proceeds of the Nation, but not when they developed it on their own.

Concerning his relations with the Great Powers, President Trump approaches Russia on the political level, and China on the commercial level. He is relying on Rex Tillerson (ex-head of Exxon-Mobil), a personal friend of Vladimir Putin, as his Secretary of State—and on Stephen Schwarzman (the boss of the capital-investment company Blackstone), a personal friend of President Xi Jinping, as President of a new consultative organisation tasked with proposing the new commercial policy—the Strategy and Policy Forum, inaugurated by President Trump on 3 February at the White House. The meeting brought together 19 top-level entrepreneurs. Contrary to previous practises, his advisors were not chosen according to whether or not they had supported the President during his electoral campaign, nor in terms of the size and influence of the businesses they managed, but rather in terms of their personal capacity as managers . . . Full story: IMPORTANT story, please follow this link.

Trump declares War on Russia, Cold War will continue until Moscow Complies

February 14, 2017 — US President Donald Trump made unequivocally clear, on February 14th, that the new Cold War between the US and Russia will continue until Russia complies with two conditions that would not only be humiliating to Russia (and to the vast majority of its citizens), but that would also be profoundly immoral . . .

TRUMP'S DEMAND #1: "RETURN CRIMEA" . . .

TRUMP'S DEMAND #2: END THE UKRAINE-v-DONBASS WAR . . . The American aristocracy are. It's an oligarchy gone mad. Trump promised to 'drain the swamp.' Instead, he's feeding the alligators. Full story: globalresearch.ca

Comment: Beware the ides of Nisan. They bode soon defeat for Israel and the USA.

The Image of the Beast 'speaks as a Dragon'

January 4, 2013 — Western support for creation of Kosovo and hostility against Serbia may seem completely inexplicable. Yet from 1991 to 2008, US strategists have been led by a single logic: the destruction of Serbia, to debilitate her as much as possible for the inevitable historical moment in the future when she would again turn to Russia (Daniel 2:42; Revelation 17:11-18).

Of course, it was necessary at the same time to also devitalize Russia. If, from 1991 to 2000, a military and media war was waged against Milosevic's Serbia with the aim of annihilating it, an economic and moral war was being unleashed against Yeltsin's Russia. The crusade against the communist world has turned into a crusade against the Orthodox world, and essentially against its most sovereign political nerve center: Russia.

The theoretician of Russia's containment in Eurasia, Zbigniew Brzezinski, said himself in 2007 that "After the collapse of the USSR, the main enemy of the USA will be the Russian Orthodox Church." The creation of Greater Albania can probably be seen in this historical and geostrategic light. It is like tossing a new match, one that could create a spark and start a new fire in the Balkan inferno. This fire would result in the further weakening of Europe, but also deepen the destabilization of the Orthodox world (Macedonia, Greece, Montenegro, Serbia . . .) and curb its rapprochement with Russia. Indirectly, it is Russia's influence in Eastern Europe that would be challenged, and therefore its rapprochement with Western Europe. In doing so the US would once again achieve her primary objective: to prevent a rapprochement between continental Europe and the Catholic and Orthodox worlds (voltairenet.org).

February 16, 2017 — NATO "most successful military alliance in history" . . . Mattis himself . . . the highest military authority in Nato . . . it has swallowed up every single country of the former Warsaw Pact, three from the former USSR and three from the former Yugoslavia. Yet "it must continue to keep reinventing itself to accommodate the events of 2014 . . . when it became clear that our hopes of some sort of partnership with Russia would yield no fruit" . . . "US troops and equipment are arriving in Poland and the Baltic states, a clear indication that the United States is determined to stand side by side Europe in these troubled times" . . . increasing military expenditure in 2015-2016 by 3.8% in real terms, that is, around 10 billion dollars (voltairenet.org).

Comment: Do you see the covenant that exists between the Jews' sovereign City State of London and the Judaeo-Roman sovereign Vatican City State unfolding Daniel 9:27 through nascent US military aggression of their sovereign City State of Washington DC over the past 150 years to Revelation 13:11-18? Or was the ministry of William Branham, His last Prophet to us Gentiles of none effect to you and is God's Bible a mystery sealed from your understanding?

The spirit of Laodicea (i.e. rights of the people/communism/egalitarianism) has almost reached its climax: that must wait for the universal revolution after the midst of Daniel's Seventieth Week.

February 14, 2017 — The Turnbull government should grant diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine ahead of an historic visit by Israeli prime minister, Bob Hawke believes. The former Labor prime minister—a long-time supporter of Israel—has criticised the Israeli parliament's decision to approve a law retrospectively legalising 4,000 settler homes built on privately-owned Palestinian land. "The least we can do now, in these most challenging of times, is to do what 137 other nations have already done—grant diplomatic recognition to the State of Palestine," Mr Hawke wrote in the Australian Financial Review on Tuesday. Full story: sbs.com.au

Comment: A building in the West Bank settlement of Beit El dedicated by the US ambassador-designate to Israel, David Friedman, was constructed illegally on privately owned Palestinian land . . . "that was never purchased and it never received approval" (haaretz.com).

GOP leaders in New Climate Leadership Council want to create a Carbon Tax

February 22, 2017 — President Donald Trump's new head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, isn't an environmentalist lackey. Nor is he stupid . . . Pruitt knows that the data harvested from NASA's Global Surveyor and Odyssey in 2007 recorded that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars' south pole had been melting for three consecutive summers. They also noted that summer temperatures on Venus had risen from an average of 470° to 513°.

I don't profess to know what the scientists at NASA think, but I doubt the melting ice caps on Mars and the temperature spikes on Venus are caused by too many sweating people, or too many flatulent cows, on Earth . . . Full story: jonchristianryter.com

Reproach the Living God

Deuteronomy 22:5, "The woman shall not wear that which pertains unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination to the Lord your God".

Every invasion of the natural peculiarities of the sexes, every mingling of sexual differences is to be seen as a reproach to the Lord. The distinction between the sexes is natural and established by God in creation, and any neglect or violation of that distinction, even only in externals, not only leads to impurity, but involves the infraction of the laws of God.

The fundamental error of the manifestation of the primitive unnaturalness and opposition to God wherein man, the husband, as the original human being should obey the voice of his wife, the by-product (Genesis 2:21-25), whence arose the original sin, will be multiplied in the measure by which man persists in his estrangement from God (Genesis 3:16, 22; I Timothy 1:11-15; Ephesians 5:24); Corinthians 11:7-9). It is unfit that a man should imitate the ornaments and dress of a woman. The adoption of the garments of the one sex by the other is an outrage on decency, obliterates the distinctions of nature by fostering softness and effeminacy in the man, impudence and boldness in the woman as well as levity and hypocrisy in both; and, in short, it opens the door to an influx of so many evils that all who wear the dress of another sex are pronounced "an abomination to the Lord".

Romans 1:26-27, "For this cause God gave them up to vile affections: for even their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error".

Now you had better establish revelation whether or not Brother Branham was the vindicated covenant prophet promised in both Testaments. If he was that Prophet then Paul's challenge applies equally to Brother Branham as it does to himself. Every pronouncement of a vindicated prophet will agree with the prophecies of all preceding prophets. Here are a few references from Brother Branham on the subject we are discussing.

I Corinthians 14:36-38, "What came the Word of God out from you, or came it unto you only? If any man thinks himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant".

"Now, a man, the first place, a man's body is not a temptation like a woman. Now, man, he's big, old, hairy legs, knock-kneed, pot-tummied, and everything; he's a horrible looking mess; and there's nothing about him for temptation. And I think he looks the "gaumiest" looking sight to see these men come down the road, young or old, with a pair of these bikinis on, ever what it is, you know, walking down the road. I think that's the dirtiest looking sight I ever looked at. That's right. I think he don't know what side of the race he belongs on (See? That's right.), a man that'd do a thing like that.

And you know what? I just heard a few months ago, the American Army's going to dress that way. Yep. The Army's coming out next year, or year after next, all in shorts. How big a bunch of sissies can we get?

God made a man to look like a man, and act like a man, and dress like a man. He made a woman to do the same, dress like a woman, act like a woman, and be like a woman . . ." (COD, p. 1,168:109-111).

". . . You know, we find more of our sisters wearing shorts up here in this cold country than you find out there in that hot country. See? It's true. Out there where it's really hot there's not too many of them that wear them. But here where it's cold they do it. See, it's . . . They don't realize it's the Devil doing that. See? Now, if it was to be comfortable, if it was to help yourself, it'd be different. Be men. I think it looks sickly on a man. You'd wouldn't pay no attention to a man. But the lady, her body is sacred, and she must keep it that way" (Man Running from the Presence of the Lord, p. 22:118).

"Can't you feel the Holy Spirit screaming out from you? Oh, United States and the world, how oft I would've gathered you, but you would not. Now, your hour has come. Your god of pleasure, your god of filth, your Sodom and Gomorrah god, that's come among you . . ." Even our little kids, beatle haircuts and bangs across their faces, little perverts starting out. Our women is gone, beyond redemption. Our men has become big sissies, walking around with little short pants on and acting like a girl, and hair hanging down their necks, and. . . We're Sodomites, and the fire and the wrath of God waits for us.

You know how He'll kill, how He'll destroy it? The way He always did. When a prostitute did anything wrong, she was stoned to death. They picked up stones to kill the woman that was a prostitute. That's how He'll kill the church. The Bible said He'll rain hailstones out of the heavens, will weigh a hundred pounds apiece, and He'll stone them [Revelation 11:19; 16:21]. Who's going to stop Him? What science is going to say it can't be done? He'll do it the same as He made a ark and floated Noah to safety; He'll do it again for His church. And by His own laws and His own way, He'll stone that prostitute who's committed adultery with the kings and captains of hundreds and thousands. He'll stone her to death by His own laws that He set in order. Who's going to tell Him He can't make a hailstone" (Trying to do God a Service without it being His Will, p. 24:142)?

"Notice, it was Eve that Satan used to make Adam sin by her power of lust. Now, the same, doing the same thing today . . . She causes her Adam to lust for her. She took off the clothes that God dressed her in back in Eden for her journey through this wilderness; she took them off. She stripped herself down, when God had her wrapped all over in skins; she's begin to shave a little off each time. Now, she's back to where she was at the beginning. Now, she's got her Adam to wearing her underneath clothes.

A man, put on them little old sissy looking shorts, and get out here. He . . . I don't think there is much man to him. He is the biggest sissy I know of. See, she's got her perverted Adam to act like she (See?), wearing her underneath clothes. She seen what she could do out yonder when she took off all her clothes, but her underneath ones; that's the shorts, of course that's a woman's underneath clothes.

And here her Adam is wearing them now, which according to God's original Word is an abomination for a woman to put on a garment that pertains to a man, and a man put on a garment pertains to a woman: from the original Word. Think of it [Deuteronomy 22:5; Zephaniah 1:7-9 (Revelation 19:17-21)].

Now he now wears her bangs also. He combs them down, puts a curler in them. Some of the most sickly sights I've ever seen in my life is some of those kids out here today with their bangs combed down like this, and coloured bleached hair with some kind of peroxide something and bleach in it, and roll it in curlers making bangs. You big sissy. That's a horrible thing to say from a pulpit, but judgment begins at the house of God. You don't even know whether you're a man or woman. And I understand that our United States Army is coming out next in shorts. That's right. See what the perversion is? It is a woman's clothes, wears her bangs" (Satan's Eden, p. 19:139-142).

"I like to see a man when he's a man. I hate to see one with his wife's underclothes on out here, and slicked up along the side; and a roller hanging down here in front, and two cones of hair hanging down like bangs cut in front. That, I couldn't call that a man. He don't know what side of the race he belongs on. See? That's right. You see, the woman, look, the woman is trying to cut her, make her hair like the man; the man's trying to make his hair, bangs, like the woman. The man is wearing his wife's underneath clothes; she's wearing his overalls (See?), just a perversion, right around" (Thirst, p. 28:189).

Authority in Christ is granted by our separation from the lusts of the ten senses of our body: sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste, and our mortal spirit: reasoning, memory, conscience, imagination and affection according to faith in the revealed Word. Faith is relationship in mutual communion with Jesus in obedience to which we bring these earthy senses under submission to the Word in our soul. "The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall [if we are elect] also bear the image of the heavenly. Now flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption" (I Corinthians 15:47-50).

If we, our soul is to "bear the image of the heavenly One" we must contact and engage in communion with Him by three steps of grace: Justification by grace [His unmerited favour toward us] through faith which is the clear understanding He is the sole Person of God manifest in virgin-born flesh to pay sin's price as KINSMAN Redeemer for Adam's race. With this understanding we recognize our sorry state, repent, accept His proposal of marriage and are baptised in His compound redemptive Name, Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of past unbelief (Acts 2:38-39; 4:12).

The serious battle begins in our second step where the ten worldly senses of our body and mind must be brought under submission to God's revealed Word, and every one. Therefore we, our soul, must die daily to the demands of those senses that have ruled our soul from our first birth and take mastery to bring our mind to sanctification. This requires changing our pattern of life, separating from friends, and activities associated with our past, worldly walk, and beginning a lone walk with Jesus whom multitudes love but cannot know by faith (John 15:16; II Thessalonians 2:10).

The third step occurs when we, our soul, is victorious in the greatest battle ever fought which is the contest between faith in the "present Truth" over doubt and unbelief occasioned by having far too much to think as a cocktail with reasoning, memory, conscience, imagination and affection. Victory will bring you into oneness with the mind of Christ which is your spiritual marriage, or new birth with the Token of the Life of Christ on display.

Authority by Separation – Part V

By Alexander MacLaren

The army of Israel was just beginning a hard conflict under an untried leader. Behind them the Jordan barred their retreat, in front of them Jericho forbade their advance. Most of them had never seen a fortified city, and had no experience or engines for a siege. So we may well suppose that many doubts and fears shook the courage of the host, as it drew around the doomed city. Their chief had his own heavy burden. He seems to have gone apart to meditate on what his next step was to be. Absorbed in thought, he lifts up his eyes mechanically, as brooding men will, not expecting to see anything, and is startled by the silent figure of "a Man with his sword drawn" in his hand, close beside him. There is nothing supernatural in his appearance; and the immediate thought of the leader is, 'Is this one of the enemy that has stolen on my solitude?' So, promptly and boldly, he strides up to him with the quick challenge: "Whose side are you on? Are you one of us, or from the enemy's camp?" And then the silent lips open. "Upon neither the one nor the other;. I am not on your side, you are on mine, for as Captain of the Lord's host, am I come up." And then Joshua falls on his face, recognises his Commander-in-Chief, owns himself a subordinate, and asks for orders. "What saith my Lord unto His servant?"

Now let us try to gather the meaning and the lessons of this striking incident.

I. I see in it a transient revelation of an eternal truth.

I believe, as the vast majority of careful students of the course of Old Testament revelation and its relation to the New Testament completion believe, that we have here not a record of the appearance of a created superhuman person, but that of a preliminary manifestation of the Eternal Word of God, who, in the fulness of time, became flesh and dwelt among us".

You will observe that there run throughout the whole of the Old Testament notices of the occasional manifestation of a mysterious person who is named "the Angel," "the Angel of the Lord." For instance, in the great scene in the wilderness, where the bush burned and was not consumed, He who appeared is named "the Angel of the Lord"; and His lips declare "I am that I am." In like manner, soon after, the divine voice speaks to Moses of "the Angel in whom is My Name".

When Balaam had his path blocked amongst the vineyards, it was a replica of the figure of my text that stayed his way, a man with a drawn sword in His hand, who spoke in autocratic and divine fashion. When the parents of Samson were apprised of the coming birth of the hero, it was "the Angel of the Lord" that appeared to them, accepted their sacrifice, declared the divine will, and disappeared in a flame of fire from the altar. A Psalm speaks of "the Angel of the Lord" as encamping round about them that fear Him, and delivering them. Isaiah tells us of the "Angel of His face," who was "afflicted in all Israel's afflictions, and saved them." And the last prophetic utterance of the Old Testament is most distinct and remarkable in its strange identification and separation of Jehovah and the Angel, when it says, "the Lord shall suddenly come to His Temple, even the Angel of the Covenant." Now, if we put all these passages—and they are but select instances—if we put all these passages together, I think we cannot help seeing that there runs, as I said, throughout the whole of the Old Testament a singular strain of revelation in regard to a Person who, in a remarkable manner, is distinguished from the created hosts of angel beings, and also is distinguished from, and yet in Name, attributes, and worship all but identified with, the Lord Himself.

If we turn to the narrative before us, we find there similar phenomena marked out. For this mysterious "Man with the sword drawn" in His hand, quotes the very words which were spoken at the bush, when He says, "Loose your shoes from off your feet, for the place wher eon you stand is holy." And by fair implication, He would have us to identify the persons in these two great theophanies. He ascribes to Himself, in the further conversation in the next chapter, directly divine attributes, and is named by the sacred name; "The Lord said unto Joshua, see I have given into your hand Jericho and its king".

If we turn to the New Testament, we find that there under another image the same strain of thought is presented. The Word of God, who from everlasting "was with God, and was God" (John 1:1) is represented as being the Agent of Creation, the Source of all human illumination, the Director of Providence, the Lord of the Universe. "By Him were all things, and in Him all things consist" (Colossians 1:17). So, surely, these two halves make a whole; and the Angel of the Lord, separate and yet so strangely identified with Jehovah, who at the crises of the nation's history, and stages of the development of the process of Revelation, is manifested, and the Eternal Word of God, whom the New Testament reveals to us, are one and the same.

This truth was transiently manifested in our text. The vision passed, the ground hallowed by His foot is undistinguished now in the sweltering plain round the mound that once was Jericho. But the fact remains, the humanity, that was only in appearance, and for a few minutes, assumed then, has now been taken up into everlasting union with the divine nature, and a Man reigns on the Throne, and is Commander of all who battle for the truth and the right. The eternal order of the universe is before us here.

It only remains to say a word in reference to the sweep of the command which our vision assigns to the Angel of the Lord. "Captain of the Lord's host" means a great deal more than the true General of Israel's little army. It does mean that, or the words and the vision would cease to have relevance and bearing on the moment's circumstances and need. But it includes also, as the usage of Scripture would sufficiently show, if it were needful to adduce instances of it, all the ordered ranks of loftier intelligent beings, and all the powers and forces of the universe. These are conceived of as an embattled host, comparable to an army in the strictness of their discipline and their obedience to a single will. It is the modern thought that the universe is a Cosmos and not a Chaos, an ordered unit, with the addition of the truth beyond the reach and range of science, that its unity is the expression of a personal will. It is the same thought which the centurion had, to Christ's wonder, when he compared his own power as an officer in a legion, where his will was implicitly obeyed, to the power of Christ over diseases and sorrows and miseries and death, and recognised that all these were His servants, to whom, if His autocratic lips chose to say "Go," they went, and if He said, "Do this," they did it.

So the Lord of the universe and its ordered ranks is Jesus Christ. That is the truth which was flashed from the unknown, like a vanishing meteor in the midnight, before the face of Joshua, and which stands like the noonday sun, unsetting and irradiating for us who live under the Gospel.

II. I see here the Leader of all the warfare against the world's evil.

"The Captain of the Lord's host," He Himself takes part in the fight. He is not like a general who, on some safe knoll behind the army, sends his soldiers to death, and keeps his own skin whole. But He has fought, and He is fighting. Do you remember that wonderful picture in two halves, at the end of one of the Gospels, "the Lord went up into Heaven and sat at the right hand of God . . . they went forth everywhere preaching the Word?" Strange contrast between the repose of the seated Christ and the toils of His peripatetic servants! Yes, strange contrast; but the next words harmonise the two halves of it; "the Lord also working with them, and confirming the word with signs following" [Mark 16:19-20). The Leader does not so rest as that He does not fight; and the servants do not need so to fight, as that they cannot rest. Thus the old legends of many a land and tongue have a glorious truth in them to the eye of faith, and at the head of all the armies that are charging against any form of the world's misery and sin, there moves the form of the Son of Man, whose aid we have to invoke, even from His crowned repose at the right hand of God. "Gird thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Most Mighty, and in Thy majesty ride forth prosperously, and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things".

If this, then, be for us, as truly as for Joshua and his host, a revelation of who is our true leader, surely all of us in our various degrees, and especially any of us who have any 'Quixotic crusade' for the world's good on our consciences and on our hands, may take the lessons and the encouragements that are here. Own your Leader; that is one plain duty. And recognise this fact, that by no other power than by His, and with no other weapons than those which He puts into our hands, in His Cross and meekness, can a world's evils be overcome, and the victory be won for the right and the truth. I have no faith in crusades which are not under the Captain of our salvation. And I would that the earnest men, and there are many of them, the laborious and the self-sacrificing men in many departments of philanthropy and benevolence and social reformation—who labour unaware of who is their Leader, and not dependent upon His help, nor trusting in His strength—would take to heart this vision of my text, and see beside them the "man with the drawn sword in his hand," the Christ with the "sharp two-edged sword going out of his mouth," by whom, and by whom alone, the world's evil can be overcome and slain (Revelation 19:21).

Own your General; submit to His authority; pick the weapons that He can bless; trust absolutely in His help. We may have, we shall have, in all enterprises for God and man that are worth doing, "need of patience," just as the army of Israel had to parade for six weary days round Jericho blowing their useless trumpets, whilst the impregnable walls stood firm, and the defenders flouted and jeered their aimless procession. But the seventh day will come, and at the trumpet blast down will go the loftiest ramparts of the cities that are "walled up to heaven" with a rush and a crash, and through the dust and over the ruined rubbish Christ's soldiers will march and take possession. So trust in your Leader, and be sure of the victory, and have patience and keep on at your work.

Do not make Joshua's mistake. "Art Thou for us?"—"Nay! Thou art for me." That is a very different thing. We have the right to be sure that God is on our side, when we have made sure that we are on God's. So take care of self-will and self-regard, and human passions, and all the other parasitical insects that creep round philanthropic religious work, lest they spoil your service. There is a great deal that calls itself after Jehu's fashion, "My zeal for the Lord," which is nothing better than zeal for my own notions and their preponderance. Therefore we must strip ourselves of all that, and not fancy that the cause is ours, and then graciously admit Christ to help us, but recognise that it is His, and lowly submit ourselves to His direction, and what we do, do, and when we fight, fight, in His Name and for His sake.

III. Here is the Ally in all our warfare with ourselves.

That is the worst fight. Far worse than all these Hittites and Hivites, and the other tribes with their barbarous names, far worse than all external foes, are the foes that each man carries about in his own heart. In that slow hand-to-hand and foot-to-foot struggle I do not believe that there is any conquering power available for a man that can for a moment be compared with the power that comes through submission to Christ's command and acceptance of Christ's help. He has fought every foot of the ground before us. We have to "run the race"—to take another metaphor—"that is set before us, looking unto Jesus," the great Leader, and in His own self the Perfector of the faith which conquers. In Him, His example, the actual communication of His divine Spirit, and in the motives for brave and persistent conflict which flow from His Cross and Passion, we shall find that which alone will make us the victors in this internecine warfare. There can be no better directory given to any man than to tread in Christ's footsteps, and learn how to fight, from Him who in the wilderness repelled the triple assault with the single "It is written;" thus recognising the word and will of God as the only directory and defence.

Thus, brethren, if we humbly take service in His ranks, and ask Him to show us where our foes within are, and to give us the grace to grapple with them, and cast them out, anything is possible rather than ultimate defeat, and however long and sore the struggle may be, its length and its severity are precious parts of the discipline that makes us strong, and we shall at last be more than conquerors through Him that loves us.

IV. Lastly, I see here the Power which it is madness to resist.

Think of this vision. Think of the deep truths, partially shadowed and symbolised by it. Think of Christ, what He is, and what resources He has at His back, of what are His claims for our service, and our loyal, militant obedience. Think of the certain victory of all who follow Him amongst "the armies of Heaven, clad in fine linen, clean and white." Think of the crown and the throne for "him that overcomes".

Remember the destructive powers that sleep in Him: the "drawn sword in His hand," the "two-edged sword out of His mouth" the "wrath of the Lamb." Think of the ultimate certain defeat of all antagonisms; of that last campaign when He goes forth with the "Name written on His vesture and on His thigh KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." Think of how He "strikes through kings in the day of His wrath, and fills the place with the bodies of the dead;" and how His "enemies become His footstool".

Ponder His own solemn word, "He that is not with Me, is against Me." There is no neutrality in this warfare. Either we are for Him or we are for His adversary. "Under which King? Speak or die!" As sensible men, not indifferent to your highest and lasting well-being, ask yourselves, "Can I, with my ten thousand, meet Him with His twenty thousand?" Put yourselves under His orders, and He will be on your side. He will teach your hands to war, and your fingers to fight; will cover your heads in the day of battle, and bring you at last, palm-bearing and laurel-crowned, to that blissful state where there will still be service, and He still be the "Captain of the Lord's host," but where "swords will be beaten into ploughshares" and the victors shall need to "learn war no more".

Deuteronomy 4:35, 39, "All this was given unto you that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other beside Him . . . Know therefore this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath: there is no other." In all the pages of God's Holy Bible there is not one mention of a trinity but among the pagans. As Jesus told the woman at the well, "We Judahites know WHAT we worship: the unchanging God is one Spirit. [I am that Spirit manifest in virgin-born flesh]" (John 4:24; I Timothy 3:16). nl964.htm

Pass it on . . . please send this article to someone you knowBrother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations overseas. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.

Bible Believers' Newsletter 963

God bless you Brethren, we are happy to see you and greet you in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we continue our series demonstrating that our authority in the exercise of the living Word of God is dependent upon our separation from the world and the things of the world unto Him in a consecrated life obedient to "the present Truth"— what Jesus is doing now." Our current affairs roundup shows that contrary to election chutzpah, the US Administration is projecting the United States, Israel and NATO along pretty much the objective of previous administrations toward the 'hot stage' of the ongoing World War III in accordance with the military blueprint drawn by Giuseppe Mazzini and Albert Pike in August 15, 1871 in pursuit of Luciferian one world government. And as we are aware their timing is absolutely spot on, for Lucifer will be cast down from heaven to receive his kingdom in the very near future (Revelation 12:7-12; 17:10-11).

"World War Three is to be fomented by using the differences the agentur of the Illuminati stir up between Political Zionists [the financial empire of the City of London and Wall Street, puppet presidents and prime ministers of the Empire of the City of London, UK, US, NATO and occupied countries—Germany, Japan, Israel, etc.,] and the leaders of the Moslem world [Dönmeh Jews such as the Saudi royal family and Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan]. The war is to be directed in such a manner that Islam (the Arab World including Mohammedanism) and Political Zionism (including the State of Israel) will destroy themselves while at the same time the remaining nations, once more divided against each other on this issue, will be forced to fight themselves into a state of complete exhaustion physically, mentally, spiritually and economically. Can any unbiased and reasoning person deny that the intrigue now going on in the Near, Middle, and Far East is designed to accomplish this devilish purpose?"

The Church will go up—so few we will not be missed in the unprecedented convulsion of nature, monetary, economic and social collapse and loss of live—then Satan will come down. So Brethren, "since you see these things have begun to come to pass, look up and raise your heads; for your redemption is drawing nigh".

This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.

Your brother-in-Christ Anthony Grigor-Scott

Donald Trump: US not committed to Two-State Israel-Palestine Solution

February 16, 2017 — Donald Trump has dropped a two-decades old US commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel as part of a permanent Middle East peace agreement . . . Trump's comments dismantled one of the key pillars of the US-led peace efforts since before the signing of the Oslo accords . . . Most long-term observers of the region have argued that the chance of Arab states in the Middle East giving up the goal of an sovereign Palestinian state was close to nil . . . In a speech in Cairo, UN Secretary General António Guterres warned against abandoning the two-state solution. "There is no alternative solution for the situation between the Palestinians and Israelis, other than the solution of establishing two states, and we should do all that can be done to maintain this" . . . Full story: theguardian.com

Comment: Donald Trump and sinners like Israel's non-Semitic PM Netanyahu should read their Bibles. Israel will be utterly defeated with non-Semitic, anti-Semitic 'Israeli' self-styled Jews emigrating to Ukraine/Khazaria (Isaiah 13:6-16; 34:1-8; Joel 2:1-17; Zechariah 13:8 – 14:2; Revelation 16:19). Israel's non-Semitic leaders agreed to a two state solution at UNSCOP in 1947 and signed UN Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947. This will come into effect upon Israel's defeat.

Neocons use Ukraine to reverse Trump Plan & wage Global War

February 11, 2017 — Every US president merely plays a puppet figurehead role, taking his orders directly from the New World Order elite and their [Jewish] neocon surrogates, fast moving us towards one world government tyranny that will be the ultimate outcome of a simultaneous collapse of the global economy timed with the launch of another world war . . . President Trump is now also marching quickstep down that same seamless path towards world war as did Obama . . . the one constant is an aggressive foreign policy delivered by deep state neocons entrenched in Washington power for many decades now. And the neocons take their orders from the ruling elite . . .

The only guilty nation that remains judge, jury and executioner in this world of other countries is the United States. And Trump has already demonstrated as the White House figurehead that he is not in control but follows his globalist marching orders. Thus Trump is powerless to change rigid foreign policy still being dictated by the [Jewish] neocons. Nothing will change in Ukraine except more death and violence will escalate to the larger arena. Russia is still the West's scapegoat as is every other nation that asserts its own will and independence free of the killing Empire. Only the US has invaded dozens of sovereign nations, initiated more wars and maintained the most aggressive foreign policy of any nation on earth over the last century. But it's always Russia that's the falsely accused aggressor that Washington and its corporate media endlessly hype in order to further justify Empire aggression and violence. After all, war has always been an American agenda. Full story: globalresearch.ca

Trump decapitates the Russia peace initiative and folds under totalizing corporate media and war-state pressures. The resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn decapitates his presidency’s peace initiative with Russia after years of campaigning for it.

General Flynn is the most advanced military intelligence authority in the US today. He is the former Director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency . . . opposed to the 'Russia-is-the-Enemy' war party that rules the US on corporate media, big money, government, and dark state levels . . . the flinty opposite of the war-monger mentality ruling Washington and Wall Street, John McCain, Hillary Clinton and so on through the [Jewish] neo-con and neo-liberal propagandists and spooks holding the bi-partisan establishment together in the greatest looting operation by far that the world has ever seen—the US corporate war state.

Planetary Lockdown, Geoengineering and 'The Deep State'

February 13, 2017 — The race to control space began in 1945 when "Operation Paperclip" brought Nazi engineers, technicians, and scientists to the United States to engineer their wonders during the Hegelian ruse known to history as the Cold War. One example among the 10,000 Nazis who sought refuge in the US was Arthur Rudolph, former colleague of Wernher von Braun, aerospace engineer and NASA director of the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Rudolph had been director of the Mittelwerk underground rocket factory . . . From 1951 to 1961, Rudolph worked for Martin Marietta . . . Initially in charge of R&D for the Pershing missile, Rudolph became an American citizen, headed the Saturn project for NASA, and received the Distinguished Service Award. In 1984, he renounced his US citizenship and returned to Germany, having faithfully served the transfer of the Third Reich to the United States.

Thus it was through the military-industrial complex that the Trojan horse of amoral, cryptic Nazism entered the resource-rich United States. In short order, the National Security Act, formation of the CIA, and Cold War followed. Rockets, satellites, computers, MK-ULTRA brain engineering, and exotic propulsion craft thrust the 20th century into the 21st . . .

The Space Age—Star Trek's 'final frontier'—began with the necessity of dominating airspace, the near space around the Earth, and weather. Military research into weather control was kept quiet throughout the Cold War while dire warnings about a 'little ice age,' 'greenhouse gases,' 'desertification,' then 'extreme weather' and 'global warming' were released to keep the dollars flowing.

Now, it is the more neutral 'climate change' accompanied by showcase international conferences packed with PhDs recommending expensive 'solutions' under the rubric of geoengineering, the intentional human-directed manipulation of the Earth's climatic systems (Stanford Environmental Law Journal) to make weather into a 'force multiplier' . . . given that CO2 is not far above the minimum to sustain plant life and nations should be increasing CO2 instead of being penalized for the CO2 they have . . . Weather warfare technology was the teeth "sustainable development" Agenda 2030 had been waiting for . . . Full story: globalresearch.ca

Ninth Circuit Opinion Released

February 10, 2017 — The Ninth Circuit has affirmed the immunity given to high-ranking Bush-era officials in Saleh v. Bush, and has dismissed Ms. Saleh's claims of aggression against George W. Bush and others for their alleged planning and commission of the crime of aggression against Iraq.

The Ninth Circuit held that the Westfall Act, a federal law that provides domestic immunity to government officials who commit alleged wrongdoing, is broad enough to cover acts that would amount to aggression under international law . . . Full story: witnessiraq.com

Comment: War criminals can commit genocide with impunity but if you overstay your parking meter or inadvertently drop a piece of paper on the street you may be charged.

Authority by Separation – Part IV

Coming out of a vision from the Lord Brother Branham wrote this promise in his Bible: "It has been for some time that this first chapter of Joshua opens to me this morning of August 7, 1957. I have been sick and nervous and I looked at a vision that was given me. I promise by God's help to be courageous from this day on".

In Deuteronomy 31:7, "Moses summoned Joshua, and said in the presence of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them to inherit it".

Joshua carried forward the work already begun by Moses who led the children of Israel "out from" Egypt and succeeded him as ruler under God in the theocratic commonwealth bringing it to a definite conclusion by leading the nation "in to" the promised land (Deuteronomy 6:23). Brother Branham's ministry restored the apostolic faith, "shouting: If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark in his forehead [trinitarian dogma], or in his hand [obeisance]. He shall drink the wine of God's wrath, which is poured out undiluted into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name" (Malachi 4:5–6b; Matthew 17:11; Revelation 14:9-11).

Hereby he called Christ's end-time Bride "out from" Judaeo-Roman Catholicism and her (once) Protestant harlot daughter churches "in to" the unity of the faith . . . [of Jesus Christ] for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation" (Revelation 17:5; 18:4; Ephesians 4:13; Galatians 3:22; Romans 8:19; I Thessalonians 4:13-18). Then the Voice from heaven (which is Christ the Archangel in your heart and mine) commanded John who represent's us, His end-time Bride: "Go and take the little Book which is open in the hand of the Angel who stands [in judgment] on the [Judaeo-Roman beast from the] sea and upon the beast from the earth [her US image in union with Rome's harlot daughters]. And . . . . (insert your name here as John represents Christ's end-time Bride) . . . . went to the Angel, and said, Give me the little Book. And He said to me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make your belly bitter, but it shall be in your mouth as sweet as honey. And I took the little Book out of Jesus' hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And He told me, You must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings" (Revelation 10:8-11).

The revelation of the Message is "quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword" which denominational guesswork cannot stand as it is THUS SAITH THE LORD. That is sweet. But you must bring the ten senses of your mortal spirit and corruptible flesh under submission so that the Message written in your life can be read by all men. This is bitter! The greatest battle you will ever fight is for the soul's mastery over your own house to separate you from the love of the world and the things of the world for which your body and mortal spirit yearn as they are part of the world, whereas you, your soul new-born from Above must overcome them.

Your body is formed from the dust of the earth, and while your mortal spirit was given by God to power your body and work your brain, it is not of God and will one day go to ground like an electric current. In the first resurrection your new, glorified body will not be conceived by lust but spoken by the Word of God like Adam in the beginning, and your mortal spirit will be replaced by your eternal theophany.

As Moses was commissioned by an audible voice before the Shekinah in a bush, William Branham was commissioned by an audible Voice beneath the Shekinah in the form of a star when he was baptizing in the Ohio River in 1933. And as Moses led Israel "out from" Egyptian slavery, Brother Branham's Message has led us "out from" Judaeo-Roman servitude and introduced us to Christ the fullness of the Word. In the antitype of Deuteronomy 31:7 He is leading us to the eternal Land of the millennium as He swore to our apostolic fathers, and He will cause us to inherit it (Revelation 3:21; 10:1-6).

Except for Joshua and Caleb, no Israelite twenty years old and upward at the Exodus would enter the promised land, and because Moses struck the Rock a second time instead of exercising his 'third pull' and speaking to it, he too was forbidden from entering Canaan. His action signified the insufficiency of God's Word, and like the organized churches he took glory to himself instead of giving it to God. He was permitted to view the land from Mount Nebo before he died whereupon Joshua who was with Moses throughout the wandering led Israel "in." The Church Age saints likewise die and enter the promise by the first resurrection, as will Brother Branham who introduced the fullness of the Word. And as Moses was permitted to view Canaan from Mount Nebo, Brother Branham was permitted to look "beyond the curtain of time." As Joshua served Moses from the first Exodus and took Israel "in to" Canaan, Messiah Jesus in the office Son of Man accompanied Brother Branham from the 'third exodus' at the opening of the Seals and is leading us "in to" the eternal Land of the millennium.

God spoke with Moses "face to face" for the first exodus (Exodus 33:11); with Paul "face to face" for the second exodus (Acts 9:1-9), and with Brother Branham "face to face" for the third exodus (Revelation 1:1; 22:16). And Paul prophesied: "Brotherly love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect has come—Christ the fullness of the Word—then PART-Word [and Christ's mediation for ignorance of the fullness] will be done away."

"When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child: but when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For while [the Book was sealed] we saw as in a mirror, dimly; but since [Christ has opened the Seals and revealed their mystery through His Prophet] His end-time Bride see Him face to face. During the Church Ages I knew in part; but now [that "the mystery of God is finished" (Revelation 10:7)] I know even as also I am known. Now abide faith, hope, Brotherly love, these three; but the greatest of these is Brotherly love".

The revelation of the Seven Seals brought Christ back to earth in W_O_R_D form through the mouth of His Prophet (Revelation 10:1-7). "And we do have today, by God's help, the perfect interpretation of the Word with Divine vindication; then that which is in part is done away with" (COD, p. 1005:56).

After his faithful report "Hoshea the son of Nun," meaning 'He will save,' received a new name, prefixed by Jehovah; thus 'Jehoshua,' meaning 'Jehovah by him will save' (Numbers 13:8, 16). He was a type of Messiah of whom the Angel of the Lord said, "You shall call His Name JESUS ['Joshua']: for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). Joshua saved natural Israel, led them to victory over the natural Serpent's seed and possessed the enemy's gate as Jesus saved spiritual Israel, the Church, and is leading us to victory over the spiritual Serpent's seed.

As Hosea's name was changed to Joshua and Saul's name was changed to Paul, God added part of His Name 'Elohim' to Abram. Abraham means father of many nations; through his seed He would bring forth a Seed that will bless every nation of Adam's race. Likewise William Branam's name was changed to William Branham.

Brother Branham said, "Jesus, His Name on earth was Redeemer, Jesus. When He was on earth, He was the Redeemer; that's true. But when He conquered death and hell, and overcome them, and ascended on high, He received a new Name. That's the reason they holler the way they do and don't get nothing; it'll be revealed in the thunders."

[Notice Jesus received His new Name almost 2,000 years ago, but it was unknown to us until the Seven Thunders were revealed in 1963 because the Book was sealed from the foundation of the world. Even so, few in the circle of this Message know His new Name. In the Second Seal Brother Branham makes it clear that His Name is not "The Word of God" but is called"The Word of God" for He and the Word is the same (p. 221:4)].

"Notice the mystery: He's coming riding . . . There's got to be something to change this Church and you know that. There's got to be something. Notice. No man knowed but Himself. Now, notice, no man knowed but Hisself." [It's a revelation].

"And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His Name was called The Word of God. (Oh, notice.) And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He had on His vesture and on His thigh a Name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS" (The Revelation of the Seven Seals, p. 158:3-8; Revelation 19:11-16).

The rider on the previous four horses commenced his ride armed with a bow but no arrows; when he changed to his red horse he was given a great sword, and riding his black horse he held a pair of balances in his hand, whereas when every eye sees Christ, He will be armed with that "rod of iron"—the spoken Word with which He will slay His enemies (Revelation 19:11-21).

Israel's Joshua and our Joshua, Jesus Messiah, each received new names. And when Christ's end-time Bride overcomes and is married to her Husband, she too receives a new Name and that name is the Name of Her Husband who is our Melchizedek as revealed in the Seven Seals (Hebrews 7:1-3; An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 327:1).

Brother Branham said, "Now, remember, that was not Jesus talking to Abraham there that could discern the thoughts in Sarah's mind behind Him. That was not Jesus; He had not yet been born. But it was a Man in human flesh, that Abraham called, "Elohim, the great Almighty," showing . . . And Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Sodom," now watch close, "in the days of Sodom, so will it be at the Coming of the Son of man, when the Son of man is being revealed." Not no more as a church (See?), not no more; the Bride's called. See? "In that day the Son of man will be revealed." What? To join the Church to the Head, unite the marriage of the Bride".

"The Bridegroom call will come right through this, when the Son of man will come down and come in human flesh to unite the two together [Matthew 25:1-13; Revelation 10:1-4]. The Church has to be the Word; He is the Word, and the two unites together, and to do that it'll take the manifestation of the revealing of the Son of man. Not a clergyman. I don't know, I . . . Do you see what I mean?"

[Not Brother Branham who was a son of Man, but the Son of man, Jesus Christ the virgin-born God-Prophet veiled behind Brother Branham, a sinner saved by grace, to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart as God veiled Himself behind the created Man in Genesis 18 and discerned the thoughts and intents of Abraham and Sarah's hearts].

"See, its Son of man, Jesus Christ, will come down in human flesh among us, and will make His Word so real that it'll unite the Church and Him as one, the Bride, and then she'll go Home to the wedding supper. Amen. She's already united (See?); we go to the wedding supper, not to the marriage" (Proving His Word, p. 44:236).

Israel was preparing for the great task of subjugating the inhabitants of Canaan; like our human warfare their battles would be the Lord's so the prime duty in their preparation was to separatefrom the world and consecrate to the Lord. Already He had encouraged them in victory over Sihon and Og the Amorite kings east of Jordan whose land Moses divided between the Reubenites, Gadites and to half of the tribe of Manasseh (Numbers 21). Israel was highly motivated following their miraculous dry crossing of the Jordan in full flood from the spring snowmelt. And the enemy was in disarray at this news, knowing the fate of Pharaoh's military following the drying up of the Red Sea (Joshua 2:1 – 5:1).

II Corinthians 10:3-5, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; [so the initial battle was over their ten mortal senses by consecration to the Lord]; they had first to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, then bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." Israel had agreed any who rebelled against Joshua's commandments should be put to death (Joshua 1:10-18). In Christ all of our enemies are defeated.

Forty years previously representatives of the twelve tribes had searched out the land of Canaan forty days. Ten brought negative reports and their tribesmen called for a new leader to return them to Egypt. And today the Laodicean churches desire a new leader in place of the Holy Spirit who will unite them against Judaeo-Communism and lead them back to the Judaeo-Roman Universal church. According to Revelation 13 – 17 he will be Rome's Pope whose main title, (Lat.) Vicarivs Filli Dei counts to 666 and means 'substitute for the Son of God.' The Israelites not only pressed Moses and Aaron, they threatened to stone Joshua and Caleb who had brought positive reports and said, "Do not rebel against the Lord, neither fear the people of the land; for they shall be our prey: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: do not fear them. When all the congregation wanted to stone them the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel" (Numbers 13 – 16). [When the end-time Bride is subjected to 'the squeeze' we will become a hunted and persecuted little group, but we will have authority by separation].

The Lord threatened to disinherit and destroy Israel and make a new nation of Moses who for His glory interceded for Israel. God determined, "Because all those men which have seen My glory, and My miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to My voice; surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked Me see it . . . save Caleb . . . and Joshua . . . as for Israel, your carcases shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases are wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which you searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall you bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you shall know My breach of promise".

Despite Christ displaying His Shekinah glory on numerous occasions and fulfilling the miracles prophesied in Luke 17:30, Hebrews 4:13 and 13:8 through the ministry of William Branham and the worldwide healing revival it spearheaded, the churches rejected His Prophet and the One he introduced by finishing the mystery of God (Revelation 10:7). At the close of the Laodicean Church Age "men would not endure sound doctrine; but desiring to have their ears tickled they gathered to themselves teachers after their own lusts and turned their ears from the truth unto fables" (II Timothy 3:1 – 4:4). Christ's mediation for ignorance of the fullness of the Word was fulfilled; the Church went up at the close of Revelation 3 and will not return until Revelation 19. Redemption was over: Christ's end-time Bride and the 144,000 elect Israelites were fully redeemed in Christ on Calvary and do not require mediation because they are predestinated to receive the fullness of the Word through the revelation of the Seven Seals or the Seven Trumpet mysteries. The remnant will enter the tribulation.

In Revelation four the Mercy Seat became the Judgment Seat and Christ's end-time Bride was caught up in the rapture. Revelation five is the modern-day breach of promise (Numbers 14:34) when once again "Christ came unto [those who supposed themselves to be] His own, and His own received Him not [but put Him without the camp]" (John 1:11). "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and tasted of the heavenly gift, and made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame" (Hebrews 6:4-6).

As the Israelite denominations were looking for Messiah's third Coming to restore the Kingdom to Israel in the millennium, rather than His first Coming as a baby, today's churches are looking for Christ's third Coming but missing His second or 'parousia' Coming and the 'rapture.' The churches are all apostate as prophesied in Romans 11:32, II Thessalonians 2:3, II Timothy 3:1 – 4:4 and Revelation 3:15-20—shipwrecked without mediation in the breach between the Church Ages of PART-Word and this holy convocation of the antitype of the fiftieth day of Israel's Pentecostal feast in which we have the fullness of the Word. The one way over the chasm into "that which is perfect" in the Capstone of the Pyramid is by a clear understanding of the Seven Thunders delivered by the Voice of the seventh angel, which is the revelation of the unwritten Seventh Seal that finishes the mystery of the previous Six Seals (Revelation 10:7).

The Prophet went to his reward in 1965 but his voice still speaks. If we add 12 years which is the age of accountability for a female, and Christ's Bride is feminine in designation, we come to the seventieth Jubilee 1965 + 12 = 1977. He said, "From the first jubilee of Leviticus 25:8, in 1977 will be the seventieth jubilee, making exactly [49 x 70 =] 3,430 years. Jubilee means the going up, the release" (The Seventieth Week of Daniel, p. 115:196-197).

From Leviticus 25:2, 8 and 11 we learn that the calculation commences "When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord . . . you shall number seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be forty nine years . . . A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you".

Speaking in 1960 Brother Branham said, "Now, counting the time, we find that we have exactly (Listen.) 17 years left, and we will have the same span of time given to us as God dealing with us in the power of the Holy Spirit since AD33 until 1977, the same span of time of 1954 years. God deals with us the same as He did with the Jews. See? How about that?"

"Now, mark down in your book a little Scripture here I want to give you. Leviticus 25, begin with the eighth verse. God calls a jubilee every forty-ninth year; the fiftieth year was the jubilee. We know that. We understand that. From the first jubilee of Leviticus 25:8, in 1977 will be the seventieth jubilee, making exactly 3,430 years. Jubilee means the going up, the release." [Remember John represents Christ's end time Bride caught-up in Revelation 4:1-2 after the PART-Word Bride was finished in Revelation 3:22 we see it no more until Revelation 19. Many of us were not even conceived and none of us was born-again in 1963, but we were each before the Lamb when He claimed the Book of Redemption in Revelation 5. Christ's mediation for ignorance of the fullness of the Word was fulfilled and redemption was over because Christ's end-time Bride and the 144,000 elect Israelites were fully redeemed in Him on Calvary as we are predestinated to receive the fullness of the Word through His prophets. The revelation of Brother Branham's Message began to unfold by 1977].

All souls twenty years and over who followed Moses from Egypt perished before the jubilee count began in 1451BC when Israel crossed over Jordan into Canaan and celebrated the Passover (Joshua 4:1 – 5:15) and the Shekinah became a Man. 3,430 - 1451BC = AD1979 - 1 (there was no year "0") = 1978 close enough to call it 1977 and the seventieth jubilee.

Since the seventieth jubilee all denominational believers and most Message believers above the age of accountability have wandered in a spiritual wilderness outside the revelation and will perish without sabbath or new birth, and never enter the eternal land of the millennium. 1965 + 12 = 1977 + 40 (Pentecostal generation dies out) = 2017. God is a Separator.

The Israelites tempted God and were smitten from the Book of Life yet they saw His Word vindicated by His works through forty years. Paul admonished, "Exhort one another daily, while it is called 'Today'; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3-4). We must obey God "today," not at our leisure. The foolish virgins sit in Church with the wise and hear the Message of God's Prophet but they are not born-again because they are slothful and dilatory. It is fifty-four years since the Bridegroom came and the foolish will be cast into the tribulation (Matthew 25:10).

The youngest of those who were twelve years of age in 1963 when the Laodicean Church Age ended and the Bridegroom came will be 54 + 12 = 66 this year. Born in 1935, Brother Billy Paul Branham will be 82 years of age in 2017 so he must be approaching old age because his father prophesied, "You wouldn't be an old man until sharks will swim right where we are standing" (in front of the May Department Store, downtown Los Angeles).

We may not understand what these calculations mean but Brother Branham said, "Oh, brother, give me a Church full of the Holy Ghost. God will do in one year what all theology's failed to do in two thousand years. You wait till the anointing of the church really strikes home to that faithful the little remnant. After the doors of the Gentiles is closed, oh, God will anoint a church then. "He who's filthy, let him be filthy still. He who's righteous let him be righteous still, and he who's holy let him be holy still." And God will anoint the church with the power of God, and things will be taken place. Not only that then, but He's doing it now" (COD, p. 145:203).

In Luke 4 Jesus was announcing the Pentecostal Jubilee that would follow fifty days after Jesus' resurrection and cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary; on this day He would deliver the Old Testament saints who were captives of death (Luke 4:18-19; The Mark of the Beast, #27:9, p. 9:56-59; Isaiah 61:1-2a; Matthew 27:50-53; Ephesians 4:8). Brother Branham's ministry declared "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to proclaim the day of vengeance of our God . . ." which will be the Day of the Lord when the Gentile dispensation ends and tribulation judgments fall, and the Lord turns back to Israel (Isaiah 61:2b - 3; Birth Pains, and This Day this Scripture is Fulfilled).

Brother Branham said, "I've always believed—before my class here—that there was something, that I'd have a part before I die of getting Israel back to the Lord, because . . . The very hour, by the Pan American chart, that Israel was declared a nation for the first time for two thousand years since they'd been scattered, not a people, it was that very same hour, exactly to the hour, that the Angel of the Lord met me up yonder and sent me . . . with the Gospel—the very same thing: May the 7th, 1946" . . . [by the UNSCOP Committee at Lake Success (UN docs. A/C.I/P.V.46-57 (May 6-13)]. The Angel of the Lord met him at Green's Mill, Indiana and sent him with the Message of Malachi 4:5-6b that would restore the heart of God's children to the faith of their apostolic fathers, separate them from the churches and introduce Christ's second Coming (Gabriel's Instructions to Daniel, p. 31:150; An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 327:1). After God takes His children Home He will "reconfirm His New Covenant with His servant nation for one week" of seven years—Daniel's Seventieth Week (Isaiah 11:10-13; Jeremiah 31:33; Daniel 9:27).

Britain's UN mandate expired at midnight on May 14, 1948 and the modern state of Israel was born, but the new nation is ruled by non-Semitic, anti-Semitic self-styled Jews of the City of London, and populated by Edomite and Khazar Israelis. Israel's two witnesses will gather and separate the blood Israelites from North Africa and the Middle East who escape the still ongoing Herodian genocide of NATO, US and 'allied' nations.

In Joshua 5:2-9 God commanded Joshua to circumcise the new generation of Israel who, having crossed over Jordan, a type of death to sin in the old nature, would inherit the Promised Land, their parents having perished in the wilderness. They type Christ's end-time Bride who crosses the breach from the Church Ages which are dead to us and is born-again by the new Message.

Numbers 14 records how the Israelites paid heed to the bad report of their ten spies and disbelieved God's Promise. This was blasphemy, in consequence of which their names were smitten from the Book of Life and the whole nation was placed under the ban for forty years (Numbers 14:28-45). Thus circumcision, the sign of the Covenant and type of the baptism with the Holy Ghost, was abandoned in the wilderness. Now since the complainers were dead and the years of rejection exhausted, the Covenant which had been abrogated was restored in time for the battle against Jericho.

God had already displayed proof of His will and power to fulfil His promises when they defeated the Amorite kings Sihon and Og east of the Jordan (Numbers 21). Now He has miraculously planted their feet on the Promised Land west of the Jordan before recalling them to His Covenant as after the Church Ages He roused the sleeping virgins and called them "into the unity of the faith" for the manifestation of the Sons of God and translation to the Wedding Supper prior to entering the promised millennium (Matthew 25:1-13; Ephesians 4:13; Romans 8:19; Revelation 18:4; 19:7-9).

In Genesis 15:13-16 God granted the land of the Canaanites to Abram unconditionally saying, "Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and I will judge that nation whom they shall serve, and afterward they shall come out with great substance. And you shall go to your fathers in peace and be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full".

The Amorites were physical Serpent's seed, descendants of Canaan's fourth son whose dwelling was in the highlands. God promised us the millennium unconditionally but the iniquity of the antitypical Amorites—Rome and her once Protestant daughters who are spiritual Serpent's seed—is not yet full. However the Sardis, Philadelphian and Laodicean generations are fulfilled so we live at the very end of the fourth generation pending the end of the Gentile dispensation when Rome will confirm the covenant she has established with the Jewish banksters, and the Protestants will unite with the state to form an image of the beast, showing "the iniquity of the Amorites is full" (Daniel 9:27; Revelation 13:11-18).

Meanwhile we are separating in the third exodus, marching to Zion, not to another country but to God's Promise, the eternal land of the millennium. God has brought us out with a mighty hand by the 'third pull,' the opening of the Word we will exercise in the manifestation of the Sons of God.

The Prophet said, "The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. It'll come one of these days; let them destroy themselves [Revelation 11:18; 13:10]. Civilization, knowledge perverts God's Word to suit their own taste. Every denomination does the same thing. Satan then preaches his own gospel of knowledge in his own church".

"There's only two classes of people spoke of in the New Testament: the children of God and the children of the Devil. Did you know that? You want to put a Scripture down for it? I John 3:10, if you want the Scripture. I'm reading it right here, got it wrote out. All right. All right.

"In Ephesians 2:2 they are called the children of disobedience, like Eve was, disobedient to God's Word. The children of obedience and disobedience have nothing in common. Then how can the Bride of Christ associate in a denomination when one's disobedient and the other obedient? How can one be the Word and the other one perverted word [Amos 3:3]? How can a prostitute and a clean woman walk together in agreement? They can't do it. They have no fellowship at all. Come out from amongst it. It's of the Devil; it's the mark of the beast, heading right into it now, all denominations; I don't care whose it is. God's taking, not a denomination, a people for His Name [Acts 15:14]. A denomination won't receive these truths, it'll take a individual person that can see God, and look at His Word, and believe it, and belong to no organization, but live for God, not for his organization of intellectual wisdom of some bishop or something has taught them. That's right".

"The children of disobedience and the children of obedience has nothing in common. One of the day of light, the other one of night and darkness, evil age, this evil age of darkness, nightclubs, dances, yet belong to church. It's okay with their god. They don't have any condemnation about it; nothing bothers them. "Why it don't condemn me to cut my hair," a woman said. "Don't hurt my conscience." She's got no more conscience than a snake's got hips. That's right. Certainly not. She don't know what a conscience is. It's been seared so hard till she don't even know what it is. That's right" (God of this Evil Age, p. 29:133-137).

In Joshua 5:9, "The Lord said to Joshua, This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day." Gilgal means 'a wheel, rolling,' and here God rolled away "the reproach of Egypt from Israel," that was the reproach of uncircumcision. Abraham's other descendants, the Ishmaelites, the Midianites and his other sons by Keturah—even the Edomites, were circumcised whereas their Egyptian masters were uncircumcised.

Exodus 12:48, "And when a stranger shall sojourn with you, and will keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat the Passover." Likewise no unregenerate person may partake its antitype, the Lord's Supper.

Joshua 5:10-12, By faith in defiance of the hostile Canaanites round about them Israel observed the Passover on Nisan 15 and they observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a type of our end-time Message and the restoration of the faith once delivered to our apostolic fathers (Malachi 4:5, 6b; Jude 3).

This was only Israel's third Passover since Egypt and Sinai where they breached God's Pentecostal Covenant of the Law while Moses was in the Mount. The churches likewise breached their Covenant in 1963 when Christ opened the Seven Seals; now "that which was in part is done away" so denominational ministry cannot baptize one into the New Covenant.

The Passover was a reminder to the Joshua and Israel of their preservation under the blood of the lamb from the Angel of Death, and a token that as the Red Sea Crossing was followed by the destruction of the Egyptian Army, the crossing of Jordan would be followed by the defeat of the Canaanites.

The first Passover in Canaan and the partaking of the produce of the land on Nisan 16, the first Day of Pentecost, was a further token of victory; that day the manna ceased. Since the Laodicean Church Age was fulfilled Christ's mediation ended and the gifts of the Spirit have been practically done away. With THUS SAITH THE LORD the windows of heaven are open, pouring forth manna from heaven in our former rain, and we taste the blessings of the Promised Land. One Nisan 16 two days after the sinking of Los Angeles, the first resurrection will commence under the latter rain and Christ's end-time Bride will begin to manifest they are the Sons of God.

How were the Israelites to conquer a walled city? God had seen to it that the iniquity of the Amorites was full before He commanded them to march around Jericho city's walls blowing Seven Trumpets showing that under the New Testament after the Seventh Trump God will reveal the Seven Trumpet mysteries to 144,000 elect Israelites through the ministry of two prophets. The revelation will break after their martyrdom, resurrection and public assumption. This revelation will grant the elect victory over their ten mortal senses, "not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts" (Zechariah 4:7; 12:1 – 13:9). And the Law of sin and death will be vanquished from the hearts of nation in one day, and the Word of God and Life will take anoint the millennium temple of their being fulfilling the sixfold purpose of Gabriel's visit to Daniel (Daniel 9:24; Joshua 6).

Joshua and his men had no machines of war—just trumpets, swords, faith in the Word of Promise, and the Presence of the Ark, a type of Jesus Messiah. Now in a further development of Exodus 3, the Shekinah Moses worshipped in the burning bush is transformed into the Man, another sign of victory. And when Joshua was by Jericho, opposite him stood "a Man with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua demanded of him, Are you for us or for our adversaries?" And he said "I am neither for you or for your adversaries; I am against sin and you are on My side. I come now as Captain of the host of the Lord." The Pillar of Fire and Cloud had become a Man, the Lord Himself fulfilling His Own sacred purpose. "Then Joshua fell on his face recognizing his Commander-in-Chief and asked, What has my Lord to say to His servant" (Joshua 5:13-15)?

The Lord is no longer suffering with and in Israel (Isaiah 63:9) He stands forth to lead them, not as an ally or an adversary but as Commander-in-Chief. This was not a vision but the literal appearance of the Lord God in created flesh.

So it came to pass that "no man was able to stand before Joshua all the days of his life: as God was with Moses, He was with Joshua: He did not fail him, nor forsake him" (Joshua 1:5). Like Joshua we must be obedient and separated to enable Him to lead us as He honoured William Branham's identical promise. nl963.htm

Pass it on . . . please send this article to someone you knowBrother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations overseas. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.